From Bank of America shareholders. As the UPoR reports, the bank’s mortgage lending losses have topped $52 billion since the deal went through and is expected to grow by another $16 billion or so from a pending settlement of a federal lawsuit. To be fair, only most of the losses are related to Countrywide as Bank of America had its own, smaller mortgage lending operation before the acquisition. And some quotes:

“Clearly, it’s the worst acquisition in history,” said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. “No one really appreciated the liability that was going to be associated with large lenders from the past. Bank of America paid for it.”

and

Since the Countrywide purchase was announced in January 2008, Bank of America’s shares are down more than 60 percent, compared with a 37 percent rise in the S&P 500 index, a broad measure of stocks. Regulators this month allowed the bank to bump its quarterly dividend to 5 cents per share, far short of the 64 cents the bank paid in 2008.